Obama uses the 'tax' word to describe mandate

RICHMOND, Va. – President Obama used the word “tax” to describe the health care mandate under his reforms, a departure from his prior etymological stance that it is a penalty.

“By the way, if you’ve got health insurance, you’re not getting hit by a tax,” the president said during his Friday rally in Roanoke, his third Virginia campaign event of the day. “The only thing that’s happening to you is that you now have more security because insurance companies can’t drop you when you get sick.”

White House press secretary Jay Carney last month insisted the mandate is “a penalty because you have a choice” whether to pay it or buy insurance.

GOP rival Mitt Romney’s aides first declared the mandate is a penalty, then Romney contradicted them by saying it is “a tax” because, he said, that is what the Supreme Court decided.